Queens of the Stone Age have become known for featuring an array of guests on their six albums so far, especially their most recent …Like Clockwork, which featured everyone from longtime collaborator Dave Grohl to unexpected names like Alex Turner and Elton John.

Their newly-announced seventh album Villains, on the other hand, is completely free of unusual collabs (unless you count super-producer Mark Ronson’s involvement behind the mixing desk), and not even frequent contributor Mark Lanegan – who has featured on every record since their second – will be making an appearance.

Asked by NME to explain the decision, singer Josh Homme explained that the band didn’t want to become a “parody” of themselves following the relative excess of their most recent album.

Queens Of The Stone Age‘s Josh Homme has said that there are no special guests on their upcoming album ‘Villains’ to avoid ‘becoming a parody of themselves’.

“One of the coolest parts about all this is being able to pop up like a Whack-a-Mole in the spot that you don’t expect it,” he began. “So whack away.

“We’re fortunate enough to have a sound that’s our own but on the seventh record if you just hang with that same thing you become a parody of yourself, like a cartoon character.

“I think what was most important to me was that we hold on to what’s important and let everything else go, because you can really only control one thing and that’s letting go.

“It just felt like, ‘Who are we now?’ And finding that was what it felt like we needed to do on our seventh record,” Homme continues, adding “Jesus, that’s a lot of fricking records.

“The first thing you ask yourself is, ‘It’s your seventh record – who cares?!'” he concludes. “When you’re making it you need to find that reason for yourself.”

We only need wait until August 25 to hear the new album in its entirety, but if we’re lucky we might hear the band playing most of it when they tour the country in July for the Sold Out Splendour in the Grass and sideshows.